


You Camp Like a Girl!

by BlackWidowNat



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, This story was written for a school assignment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 02:53:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8604358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackWidowNat/pseuds/BlackWidowNat
Summary: Emma Swan knew from an early age that she had to have tough skin.  It with the territory of having grown up the way she did: orphaned on the side of the road at birth, adopted and then returned at the age of three, and then bounced from one foster home to another.  There were few things she loved, but drawing and video games were her light in the darkness.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written as an assignment for one of my last college classes. The topic I was writing about was the over-sexualization of women in video games and I didn't want to write a straight up research paper. We also had the option to create something different; someone made an app and someone else painted something on canvas, so I chose to do what I knew best...and that was write a story.
> 
> I wrote this story to show how it makes us feel when we have nasty comments made towards us when we're playing or when some of us (me) work in a video game store and the entire time we're helping a customer, he stares at your chest...or maybe when you try to help other customers and they just assume you know nothing about games or that you're not in charge when you actually are.
> 
> I hope I've explained the point of this story well enough...it's the last assignment I had to turn in for college, so I'm a little fried out after spending the past week trying to get through writer's block and then finishing this...so forgive me if I'm not being clear.

Emma Swan knew from an early age that she had to have tough skin.  It with the territory of having grown up the way she did: orphaned on the side of the road at birth, adopted and then returned at the age of three, and then bounced from one foster home to another.  All of it laid the foundations for the walls Emma built around herself, brick by brick.

So it was without a doubt that her childhood gave Emma a gruff and prickly demeanor and that it followed her into adulthood.  There were few things she loved, but drawing and video games were her light in the darkness.  When Emma was 16, she got a job at the only video game store in the latest town she found herself in, Storybrooke.

Emma loved her job at _Once Upon a Game_.  Besides video games, they sold collectibles and table top games and hosted game nights on the weekends.  Emma was the only girl who had ever worked there and some of the local boys hadn’t taken too kindly to that.  Having to put up with the stares and whispers and degrading remarks about her knowledge or her supposed lack thereof didn’t help.

She managed to stay in Storybrooke until college where she went to Rhode Island School of Design and studied Animation.

And the rest, as they say, is history…

~*~*~*~*~*~

_One Year Ago…_

“No, no, no…the rendering for this is completely wrong!  The pixels are too rough.  This isn’t the 80s, okay?  People are expecting the picture to be smoother than ever.  These new 4K curved TVs or whatever it is that they’re coming up with these days will show each and every imperfection.  Besides, this is the first installment of a planned series, so I want it to be perfect in every way”, said Emma.  “It _needs_ to be perfect.”  She looked around the meeting room table, the faces of her staff looking back at her.

Walsh Simmons, the digital compositor Emma had been reprimanding, was looking at her like he had better things to do.  She had no idea what was going on with his work; he’d been hired because he was one of the best, having come to them after several years at Infinity Ward and working on several of the games in the _Call of Duty_ franchise, including their latest installment, _Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare_.

“Walsh, I need you on the ball and I need perfection because we’re presenting these cuts to our potential voice actors.  They need to see we’re serious about this.  Do better!”

The man in question simply looked back at her with slight disdain.

“Fine.  I’ll ‘fix’ it.”

“This is _not_ the time for attitude Simmons.  Just do it.”  Emma looked back at her meeting notes.  “Belle!  Where are we on getting Troy Baker to read for the main part?”

The woman in question looked up from her papers at Emma, pushing her glasses up her nose.

“Well, I spoke to his agent again this week but I don’t think he’s taking me seriously.”  Before Emma could reply, there was a scoff from the other end of the table.

“You got something to say Knight?”  Everyone looked over at Arthur Knight, an assistant in Belle’s department.

“It’s obvious what the problem is, isn’t it?  She’s a woman in a man’s job, somewhere she doesn’t belong.”

“Oi, watch yourself mate.”  Will Scarlett, a motion capture supervisor, stood from his chair and glared over at Arthur.  “You best apologize to the lady.”

“Will, it’s okay.  Please let it go.”  Belle’s quiet voice was barely audible.

“Knight, you watch your mouth and you give Belle the respect she deserves or you’re out, do you understand?” Emma declared.  Arthur simply rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, remaining quiet.  “And I believe Scarlett is right, you owe Belle an apology.”

“I don’t owe her anything for stating the truth.”

“You’re on thin ice with me right now Knight.  Try me and we’ll see what happens.  I run a tight ship and I expect everyone to pull their weight equally, no matter who is or is not in charge.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“Because I am the director of this project and your boss.”

“Please…”  Arthur stood, pushing his chair away from him as he did, “You’re just a woman, like Belle, somewhere where she _doesn’t belong_.  Why don’t you go home to your family and your kitchen, where you _really_ belong, and leave the work to the big boys, hmm?”

“You’re off this project and are no longer welcome in this meeting.”  Arthur turned and left the room in an irritated bluster.  “Let that be a lesson to everyone here: disrespect from anyone will _not_ be tolerated.  This meeting is over, everyone get back to work.” 

Emma gathered her notes and folders and left the room ahead of everyone, shutting the door to her office.  Dropping her things onto her desk, she fell back into her chair and shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable visitor; Killian Jones was head of Dark Castle Games’ IT Department and her husband.

Right on time, not five minutes later, there was a knock at her office door.  She remained quiet as the door squeaked open and then shut.

“What, Killian?”

“Are you okay Swan?”

“I’m fine.”

“Swan…”  Emma sat up and looked over to find him sitting in the chair in front of her desk. 

“I said I’m _fine_ , Killian.”

“You can let that arse get to you love.”

“I’m not.  I just…”  Emma leaned forward on her desktop and dropped her head in her hands.  “I just need this to go well.  It’s the first time in this company’s history that they’ve put a woman in charge of something so big.  We’re launching a whole new series, Killian!  What’s it say about my ability to do _that_ if I can’t even handle that idiot?”

“I have complete faith in you Emma Swan.  After all, I’ve yet to see you fail.”

“You have to say that.  You’re my husband.”

“No, I don’t.  I say it because it’s true”, responded Killian.  “They chose you because you were the best for the job.”

“I don’t know how I can take this anymore though.  I’ve fought my whole life.  When Gold made me director, I fought to be seen as someone worthy for it, but this is getting ridiculous.  My own team is fighting me; first Arthur and I’m pretty sure Walsh is doing bad work on purpose.”

“That man is a complete git.”  Killian walked around Emma’s desk and sat on the edge, taking her left hand in his.  “You know he’s never been able to get over the fact that you chose me over him and then you were tapped as the director.”

Emma scoffed.

“And they call women petty.”  Killian laughed and placed a kiss across her knuckles.

“Like I said Swan, I’ve complete faith in you.”  He got up to leave, “I’ll see you for lunch, aye?”

“Of course…and it’s Jones remember?”  He laughed again and continued back to his office.  Crisis averted, Emma turned to her computer and got to work; she had to let the big boss know about the Knight incident.

~*~*~*~*~*~

After lunch, Emma called Belle into her office.  Before Emma could say anything, Belle started.

“I am so sorry about this Emma!  Please don’t throw me off this project.  I’ll hand the reins over to Arthur if you prefer and--”

“Belle!  Slow down and don’t worry, I didn’t call you in to throw you off the project”, said Emma.  The other woman adjusted her glasses and fidgeted in her seat.

“Then what did you call me in for?”  Belle inhaled sharply, “Oh no…are you going to fire me?!”

“No!  Of course not!  I just wanted to see if you were okay after what that idiot did this morning.”

“Oh!”  Belle shrugged.  “I would love to say that yes, everything is perfectly fine…”

“But it’s not?”

“No. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had to deal with men like him: my father, my ex-fiancé; he was the worst!  Thought I didn’t need to go to college or anything.  He wanted me to be the ‘little woman’ that stays home with the kids.  I want to go on adventures, not be a housewife!”

“I know what you mean.  Coming from a life of foster care, people would tell me I was destined for nothing but a life of crime or worse.  But I want you to remember something:  People are gonna tell you who you are your whole life.  You just gotta punch back and say, ‘No, _this_ is who I am.’  You want people to look at you differently?  Make them!  You want to change things, you’re gonna have to go out there and change them yourself, because there are no fairy godmothers in this world.”

Belle smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek.

“Thank you Emma.  I needed to hear that.”  Belle stood from her chair, smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt.  “I’m going to go and get this agent to listen to me.”

“I know you can do this.”  Belle left and before Emma could get back to work, her intercom beeped and the tinny voice of Gold’s assistant, Lily Page, came through.

_“Mrs. Jones?  Mr. Gold wants to see you._ ”  Emma rolled her eyes and pressed the button to answer.

“I’ll be right there.”  Emma grabbed her notes from the morning meeting and left her office.  She let her assistant know where she’d be.

After an uneventful elevator ride up three floors, Emma stood outside Gold’s office as Lily let him know she was there.  Lily waved her in and Emma took a deep breath before forging ahead.

“Please sit Emma.”  He motioned to the chair in front of his desk.  “Now, I’m sure you know why I’ve called you in.”  Gold leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers under his chin.

“This is about Knight.”

“Correct.  Care to explain who gave you the right to remove him from the project?”

“Mr. Gold…he was utterly disrespectful towards a female team member and me.  He has no place on our team when he thinks it’s below him to answer to a woman.”

“You have no authority to do what you did and as such, Knight will be returning.”

“With all due respect sir, I am the one in charge of this team and I will _not_ subject others to an attitude like Arthur Knight’s.”

“You are simply the director Emma Jones, and you were chosen because the board thought we needed more women in charge.  You are a publicity stunt and the one in charge is _me_.  Arthur Knight will be back on the team and in charge of his department, Miss French will be demoted.  Now go and I don’t want to hear about any incidents again.”

Mr. Gold turned to his computer in a clear dismissal of her.  But Emma couldn’t move or form words and she was sure her brain was broken. 

“Excuse me?”  She was incredulous.  “I’m a ‘publicity stunt’?”  Gold looked up from his computer and fixed her with a reptilian-like glare (no wonder Killian called him the Crocodile).

“Did you honestly think you were appointed based on merit?  This is the video game industry Mrs. Jones, how many women are in charge?”

“Regina Mills--”

“--is head of a company that will not last.  This is an industry for men…”

“I quit.”

“Pardon?”

“I said I quit, you impish crocodile.”  Emma stood and turned on her heel to leave immediately and not allow another word from Gold.  She was so angry; she took the stairs down three floors to avoid waiting for the elevator and allowing her to stew in private.  Stepping out onto her floor took her right by the IT department and Killian’s office, so she knew that he would notice.  Sure enough, she heard hurried footsteps behind her as marched towards her own office.  Letting her assistant know that she wasn’t to be disturbed, Emma shut the door behind them.

“What happened?” Killian asked.  Emma started pulling boxes from a closet and building them up.

“I was a publicity stunt Killian”, she replied, shoving her important papers into a box.  “They made me director just because I’m a woman, not because I was the right person.  You were wrong!”

Killian grabbed her hands as she started placing picture frames in another box.

“Love please--”

“I swear to God Killian, but if the next words out of your mouth are that I need to calm down, I will divorce you.”  Emma pulled her hands from his and sat behind her desk again.

“But you _do_ need to calm down Swan and it’s not because this isn’t a big deal.  You recall what Dr. Whale said about the baby and high blood pressure…especially at these early stages.”

“Yeah, I know.  I just…”

“I understand Swan.  How about you sit here and calm down while I help pack up the necessities?”

“Thank you Killian.”

“Of course darling.”  He kissed her forehead and moved away to work.

As Emma watched him putter around the office, her computer alerted her to a new email.

 

_Dear Emma Jones:_

_I’ve heard a lot about your work at Dark Castle.  You’re probably asking yourself how I know this…let’s just say I know somebody and they happen to inform me of the little row you and Mr. Robert Gold had.  I’ve seen your resume and I’ve seen your work and I know you’re an amazing talent.  I also know what an utter moron and misogynist Gold is.  I’m writing to let you know that you have a position here, should you want it, with better benefits than I’m sure you currently have.  I know you may want a few days to think about it, so take them and let me know by the end of the week._

_I hope to hear from you soon,_

_Regina Mills_

_President, BloodRedHeart Studios_

~*~*~*~*~*~

_Now…_

After thinking about the offer for precisely 1.3 seconds, Emma emailed Regina back and after they met, Emma was not only the director for BRH’s latest game, but she was also its writer.  After hearing of Emma’s departure from Dark Castle, Belle, along with Will and Killian quit and took jobs at BRH.

Eight months into her time at BRH, Emma gave birth to a little girl.  She and Killian named her Mera, after the fierce Queen of Atlantis who also happened to be the wife of Aquaman.  Regina’s company provided on-site care for the children of employees and so Emma didn’t have to take a lengthy maternity leave (which she could have).  The Widow Lucas, who everyone called Granny, was in charge of BRH’s nursery and Mera adored her.  Killian was also granted an equal amount of paternity leave, which he chose to take some of to stay at home with his daughter. 

And now, three months after Mera’s birth, Emma and a few of her team were at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) presenting the first publicly available concept art for the game.

Because Emma was at the company’s booth most of the day, Killian was in charge of Mera who slept most of the time away in her sling.  Belle and Will and Regina (when press and other things allowed her to) accompanied Emma at the booth.  The four of them would talk about their upcoming game with anyone who would stop by and idle at the booth.

Robin Locksley, head of Sherwood Digital, stopped by on the second day of the convention.  Emma, Belle, and Will were sure it wasn’t to learn about the game because Robin’s company were the ones that were handling motion capture recording for _Broken Kingdom_.  While Robin was chatting for Regina, a group started to gather in front of their displayed concept art, and Emma smiled because she saw so many little girls and women in the crowd.

“Emma!  Maybe we should do a small presentation”, Belle suggested.  “Now that we’ve got a sizable crowd.”

“Smart thinking.  Will, get the presentation up.”  Will nodded in acquiescence and went about his task.  Emma pulled on her lucky red leather jacket and stepped in front of the crowd.

“Hey everyone!  Welcome to booth 815 for BloodRedHeart Studios and _Broken Kingdom_!”  The crowd cheered and whooped as the presentation started playing on the monitors behind Emma.

About halfway through, Emma noted (with incredible disdain) that Walsh and Arthur had joined the crowd.  Dark Castle had their booth a couple rows over from BRH, so she knew it would be inevitable that they’d show.

“So, does anyone have any questions?” Emma asked when she’d finished.

“Uh yeah, I do.”  Emma rolled her eyes as she looked over at Arthur.  She’d worked with him long enough to know when he had something up his sleeve just by the look on his face.  The smirk on Walsh’s face gave away plenty.

“Arthur please, now is not the time.”

“This is a free country, and I can talk when I want.”  Regina appeared at her side.

“You best listen to Emma, Mr. Knight.  Now turn around and take your friend and go.”  Most of the crowd, sensing the building tension, had dispersed and only a handful of people remained.  Arthur got up close and in Emma’s face.

“I would have to concur with Miss Mills”, said Robin as he joined the group.  Walsh scoffed from where he stood behind Arthur.

“You think we’re afraid of Emma and the _Evil Queen_?” he laughed.  “That’s why this company will fail.  No one wants to work for an ice queen and a bitch.”  Before he could do anything, Walsh found himself pushed up against a display by Robin, who held significant amount of Walsh’s shirt in his fist.

“Don’t you _ever_ call her that.  You _will_ show respect to a lady.”

“I don’t have to do jack.”  Regina moved forward, placing a hand on Robin’s shoulder.

“Let him go.”

“But…”

“Go ahead”, said Arthur, “Listen to your que--”  Emma saw when the anger broke through Regina’s visage and she slapped Arthur across the face.  In the commotion, Robin dropped Walsh and he was forgotten as everyone turned to look at Arthur.

“You will stay away from this booth the rest of the weekend.  Scratch that…I don’t want to see your face ever again, do you understand?”

“You’re both going to regret this.  Your game and your company are going to crash and burn…you just watch”, replied Arthur. 

As soon as everyone was gone, Regina whirled on Robin.

“Before you say anything, I know what you’re going to say.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.  I know Emma and yourself are more than capable of defending of yourselves from the likes of Arthur Knight and that simian.  I just couldn’t stand to hear him call you those things.  Why should you be called that horrid word simply because you’re tough?  I have to be firm with my employees and no one calls _me_ names.  It is completely unfair.”

“I know it is Robin”, interjected Emma.  “But it’s something that we, as women, have to live with every single day.  Refuse a man’s advances and we’re called cold.  Be strong and tough and have a no-nonsense attitude and we’re called a bitch.  It’s always been that way.”

“Exactly”, added Regina. “And the way to fight it is to not give jerks like Knight and Simmons the time of day and continue to fight for what’s right and not let them undermine us.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Their mistake was not paying attention to Walsh.  When Robin dropped him, he’d grabbed some of their work that had been brought out to show everyone.  A couple months after E3, Dark Castle Games put out the concept art for their new game, _Fairytales Revisited_ , and it was pretty obvious to everyone that the idea and artwork had been stolen from BRH.

After a lengthy (three months) court battle, Dark Castle lost their case but by the end of it, Emma became discouraged.  If it hadn’t been for her allowing Arthur and Walsh to get to her, none of this would’ve happened.

~*~*~*~*~*~

With the case finished, and Dark Castle shut down (after several more lawsuits against them for stealing ideas and other material came to light), production continued on _Broken Kingdom_.  Emma was having trouble with finishing the adaptation of the story to script form.

On top of that, Regina released more information to the public about the game and the feedback was mixed.  No one was truly understanding the concept of story of the game…which is what led Emma to have trouble with the adaptation.  It was killing her that no one understood her story.  What was so difficult to understand about the grown-up daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming being banished from her kingdom as baby and then said kingdom was frozen in time until she returned 28 years later to defeat the Dark One?  It wasn’t a difficult concept.

Emma pushed through the doubt and finished the script with her fellow writers.  With that done, they were able to start looking for voice actors and have them test for all the parts.  Everyone agreed that they wanted to get Troy Baker for their game in some capacity when Emma suggested they get him for the part of the notorious pirate captain villain turned hero who would be assisting the Lost Princess in her quest.

The day Troy Baker was supposed to come in to read for the part (at least, the day they thought he was coming in), they were all surprised when he didn’t show.  After several calls to his agent, it was discovered that his session hadn’t actually been booked because someone forgot to make the final call to his agent.

When Emma and Regina went through the notes on everything, they found out that it was Emma’s fault.  She was the one that had to make the final call, not Belle like they’d assumed before. 

For Emma, it was the last straw.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Feeling like a failure wasn’t something she’d had to deal with in a long time.  Emma took vacation time from work and stayed at home with Mera.  Her confidence in her abilities at an all-time low, she lay in bed (and on the couch) contemplating quitting.

Emma reasoned with herself, thinking that she didn’t want to mess things up any worse than she already had for Regina and the company.

_I’m just going to ruin it._

**_No, you won’t.  It was one little mistake!_ **

_I mis-booked the talent and allowed Walsh to steal our ideas._

**_You aren’t the first it’s happened to…and you won’t be the last._ **

_I’m not good enough.  I’ll never be good enough.  How can I be?  I was left abandoned on the side of a road!  My own parents didn’t even think I was good enough.  My first love tried to have me take the fall for his crime._

**_Neal was…let’s just not get into that.  He has nothing to do with this!  You are better than this Emma Jones!_ **

_Am I?_

**_Yes!  You need to woman up and grab life by the ovaries!_**

_Go away._

~*~*~*~*~*~

Emma was on the couch in the den with Mera, who sat in here walked sucking on her hand and toys while Emma played her favorite game, _Mass Effect 2_ , in an effort to cheer herself up.  She made sure to look at Mera every few minutes, but during a conversation her character was having with one of the secondary characters, Mordin Solus, he began to sing.  That’s when Emma heard the most beautiful music: Mera’s laughter.

She’d giggled and laughed before, but never a full blown, big laugh.  As Mordin kept speaking, Mera giggled and laughed harder.

That’s when it hit Emma…quitting would never be the option.  Everything she did now, was for Mera.  What kind of lesson would it be to her own daughter if she gave up when things got tough?  To make the world out there better, not just for Mera, but all future gamers who were girls, she had to stick to it…and keep fighting the good fight.

~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, Emma let Regina know she was coming back to work, but decided to surprise Killian, who had been worried about her since she’d taken time off

The next morning, Killian found her digging around in her closet.

“G’morning love, what are you up to?”

“I’m looking for my jacket.”  Killian point to her black jackets and the one tan one and the grey one and the blue one she had hanging in the closet.

“You’ve several darling.”

“Ah ha!”  Emma emerged from the closet pulling her red leather jacket up onto her shoulders.

“So you’re coming back to work then?” Killian asked with a big smile

“How’d you realize that?”

“Well, first, you’re an open book to me, you know that”, he replied.

“And second?”

“Second…you’ve got your armour on.  You can’t fight the good fight without your armour.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what y'all think! I would like to know what someone other than my professors and advisors think. Besides, I trust y'alls opinions the most when it comes to a story. Be honest, but let's not get mean okay? Thanks!


End file.
